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BLUE ASH, Ohio (AP) — A Cincinnati suburb is violating federal housing law and protections for
people with disabilities by refusing to let a girl keep a miniature horse as a service animal, her
mother says in a lawsuit.

Ingrid Anderson and the advocacy group Housing Opportunities Made Equal, or HOME, filed the
lawsuit last week against the city of Blue Ash.

A medical center recommended the horse for Anderson’s daughter, who has physical ailments,
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

HOME Executive Director Elizabeth Brown said the girl uses the horse — which is named Ellie and
is the size of a large dog — for support to walk in her yard and to pull herself up after
falls.

Brown said Blue Ash officials characterized the horse as livestock and said it had to be
removed. She said the group tried to work with the city and that the lawsuit filed in U.S. District
Court in Cincinnati was a last resort.

The lawsuit wants the city prevented from enforcing the ordinance against Anderson’s family and
all disabled people in similar situations. It also seeks punitive and compensatory damages to be
determined in a jury trial.